(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember. This week in our series: a sudden change in Washington. The House of Representatives ended the day's business early on the rainy afternoon of April twelfth, nineteen forty-five. The House Democratic leader, Speaker Sam Rayburn, invited a friend to come by his office for a drink. "Be there around five," Rayburn said. "Harry Truman is coming over." Harry Truman was the vice president at the time. The events are described in a book about his presidency, "Conflict and Crisis" by Robert Donovan. World War Two was not over yet. But it was a quiet afternoon in Washington. President Franklin Roosevelt was in the southern state of Georgia. He was resting after his recent trip to Yalta to meet with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin. The president's wife, Eleanor, was at the White House, working on a speech supporting the new United Nations.
Harry Truman was at the Senate. But he was not interested in the debate that was taking place. He spent most of his time writing to his family back in Missouri. When the debate finished, he went to the office of House leader Rayburn to join him for a drink. It was an afternoon Truman would never forget. Rayburn and his friend were talking in the office before Truman arrived. The telephone rang. It was a call from the White House asking whether Vice President Truman had arrived yet. No, Rayburn replied. The caller asked to have him telephone the White House as soon as he arrived. Truman entered a minute later. He immediately called the White House. As he talked, his face became white. He put down the phone and raced out the door to his car. Truman arrived at the White House within minutes. An assistant took him up to the president's private living area. Eleanor Roosevelt was waiting for him there. "Harry," she said, "the president is dead." Truman was shocked. He asked Mrs. Roosevelt if there was anything he could do to help her. But her reply made clear to him that his own life had suddenly changed. "Is there anything we can do for you?" Mrs. Roosevelt asked the new president. "You are the one in trouble now."
Within hours, the world learned the news that Franklin Roosevelt -- the longest serving president in American history -- was dead. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage, bleeding in the brain. Americans were shocked and scared. It was nineteen forty-five and the United States was still at war. Roosevelt had led the nation since early nineteen thirty-three. He was the only president many young Americans had ever known. Who would lead them now? All eyes turned to Harry Truman. "Our departed leader never looked backward. He looked forward and moved forward. That is what he would want us to do. That is what America will do." Harry Truman in his first speech to Congress as president. "With great humility, I call upon all Americans to help me keep our nation united in defense of those ideals which have been so eloquently proclaimed by Franklin Roosevelt. "I want in turn to assure my fellow Americans and all of those who love peace and liberty throughout the world that I will support and defend those ideals with all my strength and all my heart."
Truman had been a surprise choice for vice president at the Democratic Party nominating convention in nineteen forty-four. Delegates considered several other candidates before they chose him as Roosevelt's running mate. That was at a time when presidential candidates did not make their own choices for vice president. Harry Truman lacked the fame, the rich family and the strong speech-making skills of Franklin Roosevelt. He was a much simpler man. He grew up in the Midwestern state of Missouri. Truman only studied through high school but took some nighttime law school classes. He worked for many years as a farmer and a small businessman, but without much success. Truman had long been interested in politics. When he was almost forty, he finally won several low-level positions in his home state. By nineteen thirty-four, he was popular enough in Missouri to be nominated and elected to the United States Senate. And he won re-election six years later. Most Americans, however, knew little about Harry Truman when he became president. They knew he had close ties to the Democratic Party political machine in his home state. But they had also heard that he was a very honest man. They could see that Truman had strongly supported President Roosevelt's New Deal programs. But they could not be sure what kind of president Truman would become.
History gave Truman little time to learn about his new job. The most important power he now possessed was the power of atomic weapons. And soon after he became president, he faced the decision of whether or not to use that power for the first time in history. The Hiroshima explosion, recorded at 8:15am, August 6, 1945, is seen on the remains of a wristwatch found in the ruins Truman firmly believed that using the atomic bomb was the only way to force Japan to surrender. So in August of nineteen forty-five, he gave the orders to drop the atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. "Having found the atomic bomb we have used it. We shall continue to use it until we completely destroy Japan's power to make war. Only a Japanese surrender will stop us. It is an awful responsibility which has come to us. We thank God that it has come to us, instead of to our enemies. And we pray that he may guide us to use it in his ways, and for his purposes." Days earlier, Truman had met in Potsdam, Germany, near Berlin, with the British and Soviet leaders, Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin, to plan the peace. The war in Europe had ended several months before. "Good evening, from the White House in Washington. Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States." "My fellow Americans, I have just returned from Berlin, the city from which the Germans intended to rule the world. It is a ghost city. The buildings are in ruins, its economy and its people are in ruins."
"Our party also visited what is left of Frankfurt and Darmstadt. We flew over the remains of Kassel, Magdeburg and other devastated cities. German women and children and old men were wandering over the highways, returning to bombed-out homes or leaving bombed out cities, searching for food and shelter. "War has indeed come home to Germany and to the German people. It has come home in all the frightfulness with which the German leaders started and waged it." The three leaders agreed that their nations and France would jointly occupy Germany. They also agreed to end the Nazi party in Germany, to hold trials for Nazi war criminals and to break up some German businesses. President Harry Truman, center, talks with Soviet leader Josef Stalin, left, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, at the Potsdam Conference near Berlin, on July 17, 1945. Foreign ministers of the Allied nations later negotiated peace treaties with Germany and other countries including Italy, Hungary and Romania. Eastern European nations agreed to protect the political and economic freedom of their citizens. However, western political experts were increasingly worried that the Soviet Union would block any effort for real democracy in eastern Europe.
Truman did not trust the Soviets. And as he made plans for Asia, he promised himself that he would not allow Moscow any part in controlling Japan. The leader of the American occupation in Japan was Army General Douglas MacArthur. MacArthur acted quickly to hold a series of trials for Japanese war crimes. He also launched a series of reforms to move Japan toward becoming more like a Western democracy. Women were given the right to vote. Land was divided among farmers. The idea of a national religion was ended. And the educational system was reorganized. Japan began to recover, becoming stronger than ever as an economic power. Truman and other world leaders were dealing with the problems of making peace. But at the same time they also were trying to establish a new system for keeping the peace. The United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and the other Allies had formed the United Nations during wartime. But soon after Truman took office, they met in San Francisco to discuss ways to make the United Nations a permanent organization for peace.
In July of nineteen forty-four, many of the world's top economic experts met to organize a new system for the world economy. They gathered at a hotel in Bretton Woods in the American state of New Hampshire. They created the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to help nations rebuild their economies. At the center of all the action was Harry Truman. It was not long before he showed Americans and the world that he had the ability to be a good president. He was honest, strong and willing to make decisions. "I was sworn-in one night and the next morning I had to get right to the job at hand," Truman remembered years later. In an oral history recorded with the writer Merle Miller, Truman said: "I was afraid. But, of course, I didn't let anybody know that. And I knew that I would not be called on to do anything that I was not able to do. That's something I learned from reading history. Truman spoke of how people in the past had much bigger problems. Somehow, he said, the best of them just went ahead and did what they had to do. And they usually did all right. In the coming weeks, we'll discuss how America's thirty-third president moved toward rebuilding a Europe devastated by war
重点解析
1.come over 顺便来访；从远方来
I already told you not to come over.
我已经告诉你别过来了。
2.wait for 等候；等待
I walk to a street corner and wait for the school bus.
我走到街角等校车。
3.die of 死于；因……而死
Millions could die of hunger as an indirect result of the war.
作为战争的间接后果，数百万人可能会死于饥饿。
4.at the same time 同时；与此同时
I was afraid of her, but at the same time I really liked her.
我害怕她，但同时也确实喜欢她。
参考译文
欢迎收听VOA慢速英语之建国史话节目，我是史蒂夫·恩伯。本周我们的系列节目讲述华盛顿政局的突变。1945年4月12日下午下着雨，众议院提前结束了当天的工作。众议院民主党领袖、议长萨姆·雷伯恩邀请一位朋友到他的办公室喝一杯。“五点左右到，”雷伯恩说，“哈里·杜鲁门来了。”哈里·杜鲁门当时是副总统，这些事件在罗伯特·多诺万写的一本关于其总统职位的书《冲突与危机》中有过描述。第二次世界大战还没结束，但华盛顿政府度过了一个安静的下午。富兰克林·罗斯福总统在南乔治亚州。他最近前往雅尔塔会见英国首相丘吉尔和苏联领导人斯大林，旅途结束后一直在休息。总统夫人埃莉诺在白宫，为支持新的联合国发表演讲。
哈里·杜鲁门在参议院，但他对正在进行的辩论不感兴趣，他大部分时间都在给密苏里州的家人写信。辩论结束后，他去众议院领袖雷伯恩的办公室和他一起喝了一杯。那是杜鲁门永远不会忘记的一个下午。杜鲁门到达之前，雷伯恩和他的朋友正在办公室里谈话。电话铃响了，是白宫打来的电话，询问杜鲁门副总统是否已经抵达。雷伯恩回答说还没有。打电话的人要求他一到，就给白宫打电话。杜鲁门一分钟后进来了，他立即打电话给白宫。他说话时，脸色变白了。他放下电话，冲出门去开车。杜鲁门几分钟内就来到白宫。一个助手把他带到总统的私人生活区，埃莉诺·罗斯福在那儿等他。“哈里，”她说，“总统过世了。”杜鲁门很震惊，他问罗斯福夫人他能否帮什么忙。但她的回答清楚地告诉他，他自己的生活突然发生了变化。“我们能为您做点什么吗？”罗斯福夫人询问新总统，“现在是你遇到麻烦了。”
几个小时后，全世界得知了美国历史上任期最长的总统富兰克林·罗斯福去世的消息。他死于脑出血。美国人感到震惊和恐惧。当时是1945年，美国仍处于战争状态。自1933年初以来，罗斯福一直领导着美国，他是许多美国年轻人认识的唯一一位总统。现在谁来领导他们？所有的目光都转向哈利·杜鲁门。“我们的前任领导人从不回头。他向前看，向前走，这就是他希望我们做的事情，这就是美国将要做的事情。”哈里·杜鲁门作为总统首次在国会发表演讲。“我怀着极大的谦卑，呼吁所有美国人帮助我保持国家的团结，捍卫富兰克林·罗斯福曾形象地宣扬过的那些理想。“我要反过来向美国同胞和全世界所有热爱和平与自由的人保证，我将用尽全部力量和全部心血支持和捍卫这些理想。”
杜鲁门在1944年民主党提名大会上，出人意料地被选为副总统。代表们在选他作为罗斯福的竞选伙伴之前，考虑过其他几位候选人。那时，总统候选人并未自己选择副总统。哈里·杜鲁门缺乏富兰克林·罗斯福的名望、富有的家庭和高超的演讲技巧，他为人更为简单。他是在中西部的密苏里州长大。杜鲁门只读了高中，但上过一些夜校的法律课。他做了许多年的农民和小商人，但并不成功。杜鲁门一直对政治感兴趣，快40岁时，他终于在家乡获取了几个低级职位。到1934年，他在密苏里州很受欢迎，被提名并当选为美国参议院议员，六年后连任。然而，大多数美国人在杜鲁门当选总统时对他知之甚少。他们知道他和他家乡的民主党政府关系密切，但他们也听说他为人诚实。他们可以看出杜鲁门坚决支持罗斯福总统的新政计划，但他们无法确定杜鲁门会是什么样的总统。
历史没给杜鲁门多少时间去了解新工作，他现在拥有的最重要的力量是核武器的力量。他就任总统后不久，就面临着是否使用这一权力的决定，这在历史上还是第一次。1945年8月6日上午8点15分，在广岛上引爆了原子弹，从废墟中发现的一块手表残骸上能看到，杜鲁门坚信使用原子弹是迫使日本投降的唯一途径。所以在1945年8月，他下令向日本的广岛和长崎投放原子弹。“研制出原子弹，我们就用它。我们将继续使用原子弹，直到完全摧毁日本发动战争的力量。只有日本投降才能阻止我们。对我们来说，这是一个可怕的责任。感谢上帝，我们研制出原子弹，而不是我们的敌人。我们祈祷，上帝能引导我们按照他的方式和目的使用原子弹。”几天前，杜鲁门在柏林附近的德国波茨坦与英国和苏联领导人温斯顿·丘吉尔和约瑟夫·斯大林会面，为谋取和平拟定计划。欧洲战争几个月前就结束了。“晚上好，来自华盛顿白宫政府的消息。女士们、先生们，下面是美国总统。”“美国同胞们，我刚从柏林回来，德国打算从柏林统治世界。这是一座鬼城，建筑都成了废墟，经济和人民都陷入废墟。”
“我们一行还参观了法兰克福和达姆施塔特遗迹，我们飞过卡塞尔、马格德堡和其他被摧毁城市的遗迹。德国女性、儿童和老人在公路上徘徊，返回被炸毁的家园或离开被炸毁的城市，寻找食物和避难所。“战争确实已经返回德国和德国人民的家园，回到了德国领导人开始和发动战争时的那种可怕的状态。”三位领导人同意，这三个国家和法国将共同占领德国。他们还同意终结在德国的纳粹党，对纳粹战犯进行审判，并解散一些德国企业。1945年7月17日，在柏林附近的波茨坦会议上，美国总统杜鲁门与苏联领导人斯大林和英国首相丘吉尔会谈。随后，盟国外交部长与德国、意大利、匈牙利、罗马尼亚等国谈判缔结了和平条约。东欧国家同意保护其公民的政治和经济自由。然而，西方政治专家越来越担心苏联会阻碍东欧实现真正民主的任何努力。
杜鲁门不信任苏联，在他为亚洲制定计划时，他向自己保证，不会允许莫斯科参与控制日本。美国占领日本的领导人是陆军上将道格拉斯·麦克阿瑟。麦克阿瑟迅速采取行动，对日本的战争罪行进行了一系列审判。他还发起了一系列改革，使日本变得更像西方民主国家。女性拥有选举权，土地分给农民，民族宗教的思想已经终结，教育系统也进行了重组。日本开始复苏，成为一个比以往任何时候都强大的经济大国。杜鲁门和其他世界领导人正在处理缔造和平的问题。但与此同时，他们也试图建立一个维持和平的新制度。美国、苏联、英国和其他盟国在战时成立了联合国。但杜鲁门上任后不久，他们在旧金山会晤，讨论如何使联合国成为一个永久性的和平组织。
1944年7月，许多世界顶级经济专家召开会议，为世界经济组织一个新的体系。他们聚集在美国新罕布什尔州布雷顿森林的一家酒店，创建了世界银行和国际货币基金组织来帮助各国重建经济。所有行动的中心是哈里·杜鲁门。不久，他就向美国人和全世界展示出他有能力成为一名优秀的总统。他诚实、坚强、愿意做出决定。几年后，杜鲁门回忆道：“有一天晚上我宣誓就职，第二天早上我就得直接去做手头的工作。”。杜鲁门在与作家梅尔·米勒共同录制的口述历史中说：“我很害怕。但是，当然，我没让任何人知道。我知道，人们不会要求我去做任何我办不到的事。这是我从阅读历史中学到的。杜鲁门谈到了过去人们遇到的更大问题。他说，不知怎的，他们中最优秀的人只是继续前进，去做必须做的事情，他们通常都做得很好。在接下来的几周里，我们将讨论美国第33任总统如何着手重建饱受战争蹂躏的欧洲。
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